AVALOR,
In the underground prison an interrogation was ongoing with the suspect chained with iron chains, messy darck blue hair, and worn-out clothes.
Duke Alkana was leading the interrogation along with Syrous as his assistant; on the side of the room, his majesty the king was wearing a white V-neck shirt, black pants, and a one-shoulder black coat, sitting on a small throne centering the entire prison ,surrounded by his followers and generals,
His majesty opened his mouth and asked only one question with the coldest voice they ever heard.
"Adnan, do you regret betraying me?"
The chained man didn't react but kept his head lowered until Jevon grabbed him by the hair and smashed it into the ground, splashing blood everywhere.
-bang-
-bang-
-splash-
-bang-
He raised the man's head and pulled out two of his teeth, then smashed him into the ground again.
Syrous asked with a playful smile,
"What did you pull?...Is it something fun?"
Jevon threw the teeth for him. "See for yourself."
Syrous caught the teeth and stared at It's contents with a silly smile,
"There is actually a small bag of water inside?"
"The bag contains poisonous parasites that attack the mana source of the host, causing him to go in a state of self-destruction."jevon explained
"Crazy"
Syrous smiled ambiguously as he closed his fist on the teeth. In his arm a dark green liquid formed and melted the teeth along with the poison.
-fushhhhh-
With his face covered in blood, Jevon kept a straight face till Syrous came, extending his hand asking softly.
"Let me handle the rest."
"Have fun then," Jevon said and let go of him using a handkerchief to wipe the blood on himself while carefully observing Syrous.
Syrous's expression shifted angry as he held Adnan's head next second you see his head smashed into the ground with brutal force, breaking all his front teeth, while Jevon stood there wiping his face with a handkerchief.
-bang-
"Keugh....ugh....gaaaaaa"
"This is music to my ears.....i like it"
Syrous smirked seeing his face full of agony that he kept smashing him over and over
"Keep going man....don't disappoint me so soon"
-bang ....bang---
"Keugh....ugh...puwah...asah...huff.."
Olsen started rubbing his arms, feeling cold all of a sudden. "That man is a mad dog, and the other one is a lunatic."
He turned his face to his majesty but found him watching emotionless, so he turned toward Caroline, but she shook her head as she got nothing in her hands.
She kept her gaze locked at the seated Ashoran,
'His majesty didn't say anything, although he's always been brutal when dealing with traitors but never with his own family, but this...this treatment is totally off.'
She looked ahead at the tortured prisoners. 'Adnan is the third prince of the Vulgate bloodline; he is his own brother from the same parents...I knew he poisoned him more than once, but .....didn't his majesty always let it pass...so why the sudden change?'
She turned her head in fear twards the chained Adnan with a helpless look,
"What's the difference this time?"
Watching as the man was treated worse than an animal but unable to do anything
'Is this the man i choose?.....how did it turn out like this?....this wasn't how it was supposed to be....how did he turn into a man with no bottom line merciless twards everyone even his own family.....iam starting to fear him...'
Syrous raised the man's bloody face to be in sight of his majesty feeling satisfied about his work ,'What a beautiful masterpiece...'
He leaned near his head saying in a voice clear to all those present,
"What a useless parasite....are you still not going to talk?"
Seeing the man's lips moving, he leaned closer to hear him.
"Are you saying something?...Here, let me hear...."
Once he got closer, the man spit all over his face.
-spite-
Seeing the mix of blood and saliva all over his face and cloth he snapped,
"You!"
Syrous lost it and grabbed the chains around his neck, ready to strike, but the man started laughing hysterically.
"Ha...ha. Hahahahahahahah..."
"Oi, did he finally lose it?"
The man looked straight in Syrous's eyes, which were full of madness, raising his voice letting everyone in the room hear his words.
"Never...he should have died long ago, and I should've been the king with all the glory, not him...not in this way...he shouldn't have been born to curse this world; he deserves death...hah,hah,hah,hah"
"You!??"
Syrous was shoked by his words since the topic of the curse was a taboo in this land ,
He thought ,'Is this man crazy ? Or does he want to die faster?....i don't understand why would someone in his situation try to stimulate the devil?'
he was lost for a respons himself but just like everybody else that heared his words ;all eyes turned at Ashoran
-clap, clap-
Ashoran suddenly started clapping as the entire room went into dead silence, he walked away from his throne smiling.
"Not going back on your opinion under any threat...hmm...I truly admire the man you are."
He turned to the people behind him, saying,
"Why aren't you clapping?...Come on, clap for me; he deserves this little bit of recognition."
"..."
All those present were stunned hearing what he was saying, but Syrous and Jevon never questioned or gave his order a second thought the moment they heared the order they instantly started clapping.
-clap, clap, clap, clap, clap~-
The others in the back kept a stunned face, looking at each other until Ashoran's raging voice mixed with killing intent shook the entire prison, growling like a monster.
"Clap"
From the sudden shock, they didn't realize it as their hands started moving on their own.
-clap, clap, clap, clap, clap~-
Ashoran had a look of satisfaction on his face, but that satisfaction instantly turned into nothing as his cold voice echoed.
"enough"
The room went again into dead silence as he turned to Adnan with open arms.
"Did you see that, those...hmm...let's say 30 seconds," marking the number 3 with his right hand, "those 30 seconds of clapping are all the glory you're worth."
Ashoran moved forward toward him, and Syrous on the ground got up, respectfully bowing to his king.
With Jevon and Syrous on both sides, the man felt a hint of fear seeing Ashoran getting closer.
"Wh…what are you going to do?...You can't kill me. I'm warning you, my mother won't let this slide."
"Don't worry if she has the guts to object; I won't mind sending her to accompany you down there," he said as he stomped with brutal force on Adnan's back, cracking almost all his chest bones.
"Keugh, ghaaaaaaah...ngh, bleegh."
"As a final goodbye, I will let you hear this decree of mine."
"??!"
Ashoran kept a straight face, looking ahead.
"DOUS, pass down my orders."
All present other than Ashoran got on their knees, just like people in black robes and chained hands hiding their faces with faceless wood masks; they appeared out of nowhere, bowing behind Ashoran.
'Dous are the people responsible for writing down the commands of those who rule the crown of Avalor. Once a DOUS is involved in the decree, then there is no going back.' Caroline's whole body became more tense as she gritted her teeth, 'No matter how cruel he was, I never thought he'd use such crule method on his own flesh and blood... that's pure tyranny.....'
Ashoran started counting on his fingers.
"The second prince is punished for treason, embezzling money from the royal treasury, and selling defective weapons to the army. All of them combined give a death penalty, a slowly painful death. As for his wife's family, they are also involved, so a public execution shall take place as a public example, and all their wealth combined will be confiscated and added to the royal treasury, effective immediately."
All the people present in the room said instantly in one steady voice,
"All shall be done according to your wishes."
Ashoran kicked Adnan so hard that he flew into the wall, breaking all the chains around him
-clark-
-shatter-
-bang-
Ashoran turned his head slightly toward Syrous.
"He's yours from now on; make sure you execute my order perfectly"
Syrous's face was instantly covered with an obsessive look, giving the vibe of a madman bowing to his majesty.
"I will make sure not to disappoint you."
"Umm."
With that done, Ahoran left all the mess that followed to his subordinates to take care of and went outside.
'This shit is over in the worst case scenario i see....who could we blame?',Jevon threw the bloody handkerchief onto the ground and followed behind his majesty.
"Your majesty, what about the cooperation request?"
"Review it further and hand me the detailed report in tomorrow's mlrning meeting" he said, walking so fast, allowing no chance for an answer, leaving all the mess to Jevon to take care of.
Jevon stopped following behind and turned to the bright moon in the sky, "at least it's not a zero; there is still a chance."
Ashoran walked into his personal suite and headed into his special training room, closing the doors behind him.
-bang-
He paused for a while, he leaned on the doors thinking about what he'd just done.
"Turns out she was right...it wasn't as hard as I imagined."
With his trembling body he couldn't keep standing and started sliding on the floor,
"Insane...really insane...."
He ripped his mask off his eyes and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air with dead eyes. He kept looking at the ceiling.
"I...can't...gasp...breathe...gasp...No...huff...What...should...I...gasp...do?..."
He leaned forward with his head between his legs; he covered his mouth.
"Oh no...I...gasp...can't...I...gasp...I..."
His breathing was coming as a thick layer of smoke; he slowly opened the fingers of his hands, showing his wide, unsettling grin, his face blushing with pure joy.
"I love it."
He leaned on the gates, grinning like a psycho.
"Hah, hah, hah...getting rid of that nausea felt so amazing."
"To think someone could know you even better than you thought you knew yourself..." He jumped, standing on his legs, and shouted,
"Great!"
He started walking deeper into the room, for every step he took lit up the ground, and only stopped in the middle of a huge magical circle at the center of a pair of wings coming out of the huge statue of the black thundering dragon.
The ceiling has a huge crystal connected to the magical circle in the ground, supplying it with power.
He untied the black coat on his right shoulder and took out the box numbered 163; inside there was a stone-shaped sword.
'She said training with this will insure better results .....lettest it out'
Ashoran removed his gloves and threw them on the ground. He then bit his finger, dripping his blood over the stone sword, and the sword, like a thirsty ground, absorbed the blood like absorbing water.
"Slow, won't do."
He pressed the protruded edge of the stone onto his palm.
'At least this side has some resemblance to the real blade.'
He pressed on his hand and pulled on the sword, slicing his hand, and blood came rushing from his wound like a fountain.
"Did it actually work or not?"
It didn't take long, and the stone started glowing, absorbing every drop of blood. Seeing how crazy things started to develop, he held onto the stone and started performing the sword moves he got from Serenity.
Until time passed without him noticing he was drenched with sweat until his head felt numb and the sword fell from his hand.
"Huff,huff,huff,huff...i...gasp... Did I .....huff,huff...lose so much blood?...gasp....My head is killing me."
Ashoran squatted on the ground feeling an intense shock wrapping around his head as if his head was splitting into half, leaning on one hand, trying to get up, but all for nothing; his head was full of unclear voices.
"V$#% A$ M%___ve#$ #$ @#e"
He kept shaking his head, confused by the voice,
'What is happening to me?!' He thought
unable to understand till finally the voice was cleared out and he heard her call,
"Come to me."
Just hearing those words clearly triggered something inside him,making him scream at the top of his lungs,
"Gaaaaaaaaah"
-open-
his eyes turn into a mix of golden and red dragon eyes; his hair grew longer, turning fully white.
His shadow grew horns and wings while his body got covered with black magical circles ,he said in one voice along with the one echoing in his head,
[MEMINI ME]
Those words triggered a hidden black circle under him, producing black spiky chains that pentrated his skin pinning him to the ground
His blood came out in the shape of melted gold that turned into a thick mist of dark red energy that has a phantom of twin black dragons growling non stop
The twin dragons wrapped their wings around Ashoran spreading the mist to swallow his surroundings completely, forming an unclear vision in his head.
In that vision he saw himself on an icy mountain using the fangs of the dragon sacrifice killing all the people and bear demons around him then he leaned on his five claws black sword in the middle of the sea of blood his vision turned blurry just as he was about to close his eyes he caught onto someone in white closing onto him,
"so cold .....huff,huff,huff.....am i going to die...huff.....huff...huff .. "
And with that he closed his eyes for ,everything around him turned into darkness that swallowed him inside till an unknown amount of time passed and he woke up by the sound of a ringing bell.
-awake-
"Gasp...huff, huff, huff...gasp...gasp...huff, huff..."
-ding ,dong...ding, dong-
He looked around him in confusion,
"Morning bell?...Could it be it's morning already?"
-sniff..sniff-
The air around him suddenly had a light ,clean, and airy delicate soft floral scent
"The air.....it smells like....lotus"
He touched his lips with a blushing face,
"It's sweet "
-ding, dong-
He thought about all that just happened, and suddenly a pain caught his chest, but it was just for a split second. He removed his white shirt to take a look and was horrified.
"What is this?"
A five-claw dragon hand appeared over his heart, and another one appeared over his right shoulder and neck.
"This is..?!"
Seeing how steady his hands were, he got up from the ground and fetched his real sword one is a three claws sword while the other is a dragon head one
'Let's try again while the sensation is still fresh in my hands '
Leaning forward, using the dragon head sword to aim ahead and the three clawed sword to draw energy from the ground into his body and sword, with the right leg as the trigger, he launches forward, slashing one strike after another.
-slash-
-bang-
He kept going for at least an hour before he finally stopped in the air eyes fixed on the head of the back dragon,
"This shit piss me off"
With the swords in his hand he disconnected the head with a clean slash landed standing on his feet over the falling head in a state of daze, seeing what happened to his practice room.
He squatted over the head deep in thoughts,'after that dream those moves feels so smooth and natural in a way that is hard to explain but....it doesn't feel foreign to my body'
"No doubt ....i know those moves even if i don't remember them my body still does"
Within less than a second, the entire room turned into ruins engraved by the sword, making the self-restoration center of the room malfunction.
" not bad "
He grabbed his white shirt and placed it onto his body again fully satisfied with the results of his training.
"Need to take a shower real fast"
'This was only the first stage; I wonder how strong my Lilly is going to make me in the future.'
-crach-
"??!"
Ashoran pushed the door open and the trapped heat from inside rushed outside after the pressure on them was released to find Astrum and Syrous waiting for him at the doors.
"Good morning, Your Majesty."
Ashe walked past them saying,
"I will shower first; go wait in the office."
"Noted"
Both of them bowed, watching his figure walk away. Only then did they dare move.
"My god did he come out of an oven or something this heat is unbelievable, did he really spend the whole night training alone?" Astrum said, staring at the empty corridor, 'His majesty has been acting strange lately.'
Suddenly he felt a trembling hand pulling on his shirt.
"What's the matter, Syrous?"
Syrous pointed at the door where his majesty came from with terrified eyes.
"I can't explain it with words...ugh. Whatever, just see for yourself."
"?!?!"
Syrous pulled him closer to the door ,"Ugh..don't stare at me look"
Astrum widened the door opening to see what made Syrous's state this bad. "I hope it's really worth all the fuss you're making or els—"
Astrum froze from the shock, unable to process what his eyes were seeing, the entire inner layers of the training room fell onto the grounds in a messu state
"What the...did a hurricane pass through this room or what?"
Syrous started smiling awkwardly.
"Ha...ha...ha...told you I can't explain with words, if a hurricane can do this then what's the point of struggling? "
Astrum walking inside the room with heavy steps,
"This room turned into a ruin."
"Tell me about it...I even lack the courage to take a single step inside.
Syrous squatted on the ground right in front of the doors.
His gaze tensed looking at the familiar scene ,'those marks....it can't be that right....?' His hand grib started bleeding from his fingers due to the force on them
He started rubbing his eyes frantically ,'something is not right in here ...maybe I'm exhausted and started hallucinating? '
Astrum stared at the marks onto the ground and walls with a tensed expression.
"Those marks..." He squatted on the ground, touching the slashed parts, "the marks of a sword."
"Sword marks?...What the fuck...seriously?"Syrous jolted from the ground
"Since when did I start making jokes with you?"
"Fuck?!!" Syrous stared at the pile of stones filling the entire room. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5...20...25...30...this...this...I spotted more than 60 slashes till now, and there are still more...the room was perfectly fine before we parted. What's going on here?"
Astrum shook his shoulders.
"Don't ask me; I should be the one asking you...You're his personal assistant; don't you know anything about this sudden burst of power?"
with eyes wide open syrous looked at the sight in front of him in disbelief,'fuck!...it's not an illusion It's indeed 'AUREI SANGUINEM' the heat in the air is the proof but.....this doesn't make any sense!?'
Astrum walked towards Syrous, carefully examining the place around him. 'This room was originally strong enough to withstand the power of a ninth-circle magician at the very least, and it's equipped with a self-repairing center ...for a room made of such quality to end up like this...'
Astrum pulled the doors closed behind him, then turned to Syrous but saw him so deep in thoughts ,' what in the world happened to that man?'.
"Hey.....Did anything happen while you were on vacation?" he patted his shoulders which altered him to what was really happening around him,
"Huh?!....what ?...Why are you asking?"
"Idiot, such tremendous power doesn't grow overnight; something definitely happened with him...think carefully." He said
"Maybe he got his hands on an opportunity or something...."he said
'An opportunity that should've stayed buried ' Syrous tried to recall anything suspicious and suddenly shouted,
"Wait!...I found it...."
His shouting startled Astrum. "Wh...what did you find?!"
Syrous started talking all excited.
"Remember that woman."
"What woman?...be more specific."
"You know her, the woman who pinned us to the ground...remember her…"
Astrum paused for a second, then turned to Syrous.
"Why do you look so happy when talking about such disgraceful things?"
"I am not; you're wronging me."
Syrous placed his hands inside his pockets, turning his face all serious.
"Although I don't know why his majesty knows such a person, if she was really someone capable of handing such powers to his majesty without blinking, then maybe we need to think about what she said that day."
'Maybe a enemy?....or an alley?...no matter what we will eventually meet again' he thought
Astrum's face frowned upon recalling her words, but he quickly regained his composure.
"I hate to admit it, but...she was right; at this rate we will indeed be a burden."
Syrous nodded his head in agreement.
"Indeed, it hasn't even been a few days since she was with His Majesty, and he's gone through such transformation, and who knows, maybe this is just the beginning."
"This is going to be troublesome." Astrum said as both started walking out of that place to head toward their work.
Syrous leaned his head closer to Astrum. "You seem to have a plan; tell me, what are you going to do, huh?"
Astrum shoved his head away, complaining, "Stop bothering me."
"You're so mean."
"That's just who I am."
"Tch, stingy."
"I am not." Astrum let go of him. "It's not like you need any help; if you ask me, I would say you're actually joyfully jumping inside seeing a chance to let loose for once."
'Let loose ...huh ...how i wish it was as easy as your words make them appear?' Syrous grinned through his teeth, avoiding the topic.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said and walked ahead of Astrum, leaving him behind.
"Really don't know?!"
While Astrum stared at his back,
'How come the guardian of the original sin doesn't know?... Whatever is hiding under that thick armor, I am sure. It's going to be mindblowing, but... no matter when or how... all I wish is for us to pass that storm alive.'